Sources Of Power

[Camer the Dragon]

Eternal is gonna be much more reliable than me or this post xd

Some sources of power are cleaner than others, and with global warming on the rise where we get our power from becomes more of an issue that needs to be addressed.

Renewables:

Pro:

• Less/No CO2 and other gases that cause global warming
  

Con:

• Current infrastructure is not based upon this. it would take a lot of money and effort to switch and make sure people aren't cut-off during the transition.
  

Wind:  Wind power can be harnessed using wind turbines either on land or out at sea.
Pros:

• Wind will be something that is around as long as the earth is.
  
• Cheap source of renewable energy.
  

Cons:

• Can be noisy. so must be placed a certain distance from homes or where people will be a lot of the time.
  
• Wind is unreliable, it can stop/start suddenly.
  

Solar:  Solar power is gathered from sunlight by panels.
Pros:

• Can be put in many places, e.g. on roofs of houses which would've had nothing on before.
  
• Silent.
  
• The sun will keep going for billions of years.
  

Cons:

• A cloud can stop you getting power. (Not reliable).
  
• The time of year heavily affects power gain. (less in winter, where you might want more power)
  
• Expensive.
  

Geothermal:  Geothermal power is gained from the heat of the earth.
Pros:

• Reliable.
  
• Generates a lot of electricity per unit spent, as running costs are very low.
  

Cons:

• High start-up cost.
  
• Has to be placed in a location which will allow for it.
  

Hydro:  Wave power is generated by big dams in the sea, using the moon's pull on the Earth to generate power.
Pros:

• Reliable cycle. The moon's gravitation pull provides a set timing for when waves go up or down.
  
• Efficient, a lot of power from the waves is turned into electricity
  

Cons:

• Really hard to place, you need a really specific place to put one of these.
  
• If you don't plan it well, it could cause rivers to dry up downstream or flooding upstream, disrupting people's lives.
  

Non-Renewables:

Nuclear:  Nuclear power uses radioactive decay to generate a lot of power
Pros:

• Lasts a long time, although not renewable it lasts a while.
  
• Current infrastructure uses nuclear and we have a lot of data on it and its effectiveness in real situations.
  

Cons:

• Has to be maintained VERY WELL. If this goes wrong, nuclear meltdown is extremely bad.
  
• Removal of waste must be done properly and securely, or radioactive material may end up getting where it shouldn't.
  

Coal: Coal power has been used for centuries as a main source.
Pros:

• Existing Infrastructure.
  
• Cheap.
  

Cons:

• Extremely Dirty for the environment, loads of emissions.
  
• Acid Rain and other unpleasant things.
  

---

I may have missed some out and if you think any of the points are wrong say in a post and I will see if I need to change it.


I think that renewable power is definitely the way to go as we need to really focus on lowering our emissions, nuclear can help with the transition as it's less bad than the other non-renewables but must be maintained well.

[Dolphiner]

Relevant xkcd

[Camer the Dragon]

Relevant xkcd

lol

I like that comic

[Ashley766]

Relevant xkcd

lol classic!

[Eternal]

Fun fact. I just finished a whole class on Alternate Energy Sources. Pretty interesting stuff. The biggest problem with most Alt Energy sources is to do with efficiency. For example, hydropower one method to harness energy from the ocean is using an OTEC device, but they can only obtain an efficiency of just under 10%. This means the OTEC device can only harness 10% of the available energy, which isn't feasible at all for how large and expensive these things are. The list goes on and on though with the other alt energy sources aswell. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

[Camer the Dragon]

Fun fact. I just finished a whole class on Alternate Energy Sources. Pretty interesting stuff. The biggest problem with most Alt Energy sources is to do with efficiency. For example, hydropower one method to harness energy from the ocean is using an OTEC device, but they can only obtain an efficiency of just under 10%. This means the OTEC device can only harness 10% of the available energy, which isn't feasible at all for how large and expensive these things are. The list goes on and on though with the other alt energy sources aswell. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

What are your thoughts on Geothermal power? it seems quite good but what are some of the drawbacks and why isn't it more widely used?
(I feel like you should have OP for this lol)

[Eternal]

What are your thoughts on Geothermal power? it seems quite good but what are some of the drawbacks and why isn't it more widely used?
(I feel like you should have OP for this lol)

It suffers to mainly similar issues, mainly the lack of efficiency. There are a few different types of geothermal power. A couple of them deal with corrosive by-products which can cause issues with equipment. The easiest geothermal power to harvest is hydro geothermal, but even with that to maintain a 10MW power plant (which is one-tenth the size of a regular natural gas/coal burning power plant) would require a water flow rate of about 200 kilograms per second. WHICH IS MASSIVE and requires a HUGE plant. Sooo yeah 

[Camer the Dragon]

It suffers to mainly similar issues, mainly the lack of efficiency. There are a few different types of geothermal power. A couple of them deal with corrosive by-products which can cause issues with equipment. The easiest geothermal power to harvest is hydro geothermal, but even with that to maintain a 10MW power plant (which is one-tenth the size of a regular natural gas/coal burning power plant) would require a water flow rate of about 200 kilograms per second. WHICH IS MASSIVE and requires a HUGE plant. Sooo yeah 

What would you say is the best renewable energy source going forward?

[Eternal]

What would you say is the best renewable energy source going forward?

It's really hard to say. The technology just isn't advanced enough to make renewable energy totally feasible. Though this really isn't a renewable resource, but CHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems are pretty cool. They can operate whole hospitals or big commercial buildings off basically just natural gas allowing them to go almost completely off the grid.

[Camer the Dragon]

It's really hard to say. The technology just isn't advanced enough to make renewable energy totally feasible. Though this really isn't a renewable resource, but CHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems are pretty cool. They can operate whole hospitals or big commercial buildings off basically just natural gas allowing them to go almost completely off the grid.

So would you say it'd be a good idea long term to put a lot of money into R+D projects?

[Eternal]

So would you say it'd be a good idea long term to put a lot of money into R+D projects?

Yeah, mainly with solar and hydropower. The main issue with those is storage. Batteries suck these days.

[Camer the Dragon]

Yeah, mainly with solar and hydropower. The main issue with those is storage. Batteries suck these days.

Yeah I hear about that
especially with solar because it only works during days and clear sunny ones at that, very important to have a good battery